For a little more than 45 minutes during Brian Lehrer's radio show on WNYC, the governor's rivals from his left and right, Democrat Zephyr Teachout and Republican Rob Astorino, took turns bashing Mr. Cuomo on everything from taxes to education to corruption. Far ahead in the polls, the governor declined to participate.

Ms. Teachout, a Fordham University professor, and Mr. Astorino, the Westchester county executive, agreed on little except that Mr. Cuomo's four years as governor have been an abject failure. Mr. Astorino faulted the governor for a struggling business climate, while Ms. Teachout said he had allowed New York's social safety net to disintegrate.

Occasionally the two underdog candidates took shots at each other. After Mr. Astorino blasted the Cuomo administration's economic development policies, Ms. Teachout said his commentary sounded familiar.

"You said that Andrew Cuomo wasn't here, but in the last answer I felt like Andrew Cuomo was here," she said. "Because this is an area where Andrew Cuomo's vision of New York is very similar to Rob Astorino's. It's a very traditional, conservative, trickle-down Reagan approach to economic development."

"I'm nothing like Andrew Cuomo," Mr. Astorino responded testily.

Ms. Teachout knocked the governor for doling out billions in "tax giveaways" to companies across the state with little to show for it in terms of job creation. Mr. Astorino slammed Mr. Cuomo for flip-flopping on whether to give localities control over raising their minimum wage in order to win the endorsement of the Working Families Party. He echoed Mr. Cuomo's earlier criticisms of that proposal, arguing that the state runs the risk of "cannibalizing" itself.

They found some common ground on the Common Core education standards. Mr. Astorino is running on a separate ballot line called "Stop Common Core," while Ms. Teachout noted that the controversial standards are the brainchild of billionaire Bill Gates.

"You're listening to two people who disagree but are principled," Mr. Astorino said. "Andrew Cuomo stands for nothing."

This is not the first time the two candidates shared a stage in order to drum up publicity for their struggling campaigns. They held a joint press conference in July to attack the governor's shutdown of his own anti-corruption panel after the Legislature passed an ethics-reform law.

The now-defunct Moreland Commission came up again in Thursday's debate, with both candidates opining on whether Mr. Cuomo is corrupt. (The U.S. attorney is probing the governor's decision to end the Moreland Commission, which Mr. Cuomo says served its purpose and was a success.)

"Yes, absolutely," Mr. Astorino said, when asked if he believes that Mr. Cuomo is corrupt. Ms. Teachout was more circumspect, but eventually called the governor "self-serving" and therefore "corrupt."

With the Democratic primary five days hence and Mr. Cuomo enjoying double-digit leads over both rivals, he has avoided politicking. Last week, he defended his decision not to debate by commenting that not all debates are worthwhile.

Meanwhile, the state Democratic Party attacked Ms. Teachout for debating Mr. Astorino.

"Zephyr Teachout claims to be a progressive, but today will be her second campaign event alongside the ultraconservative Republican nominee," said former Gov. David Paterson, who chairs the state party, in a statement. "Providing a platform for Rob Astorino to promote his extreme conservative agenda—anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-gun safety—will do nothing to further the progressive movement in New York. I guess her progressive ideals are negotiable if there’s a media opportunity involved."

wrote on 09/04/14 at 5:20 PM

This from our accidental governor, David Paterson, who could barely govern his way through the corruption and special favors he and his cronies dealt out to each other as they misgoverned the state that had been dropped into their hands?

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